Mise-en-Scène & The Erotic Character In The Movie "Fallen Angels"
Most people work 9 to 5. I’m the opposite. My job is simple; I visit friends now and then. I don’t know any of these people. They don’t interest me either. Soon, they’ll be gone forever.” This is how we’re introduced to the character The Killers’ Agent, played by Michelle Reis, in the movie Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai, Do lok tin si, 1995): a nameless woman dressed in latex and leopard print, pushing dumplings with shaky hands into her mouth as we view her chest-up like a splash of color separating her from the bleak green background.
Her voice-over may softly allude to prostitution but the Agent works with bodies in other ways - arranging for them to be killed. She never sells her body, and she doesn’t have sex on-screen, yet her very being is steeped in lust and want. Partner seems to be an archetype of it - from the way her character arc relies on her wanting her partner-in-crime, to how she dresses and acts, to how the light and angles frame her. In this essay I will study Wong Kar-Wai’s use of Mise-en-Scène to create this erotic character, and how Kar-Wai made it so that she is in control of it.
Costume
Costume is one of the most important, and often one of the most underrated, parts of a character. In the book The Film Experience, authors Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White write about the role of costume and make-up in film, pointing out that when its function is to highlight a character they draw out important parts of that character’s personality. In Fallen Angels Partner’s character not only has important parts of her personality drawn out by her outside as it instead becomes a metaphor for her entire being.
Bangs are covering painted dark eyes, her lips are red, and clothing short and revealing. It does match the overall atmosphere of the movie, as costumes and related accessories often contributes of the ”visual impression and design of the film overall”, but it’s also a prime example of how female seduction is viewed from the outside. We become aware of Partner’s own awareness of this facet of her personality in her last scene when she’s sitting at a restaurant where the character He Zhiwu also is present.
Partner’s just lost her, well, partner who was her romantic interest and the drive for her erotic demeanor. Her hair is up and eyes unpainted - until she makes eye-contact with Zhiwu and we’re treated to a close-up of her face as she removes the pin from her hair and lets the bangs cover her eyes like they did before. She then asks him to drive her home. This in-your-face action tells the audience that yes, her way of dressing is directly linked to her demeanor, and yes, she’s aware of its erotic power.
Color
Kar-Wai makes strong use of color in his movies, strong enough that many articles and videos about him focus on his ”color obsession”, and one can interpret the use of color as symbolism; for emotions, events, and maybe even as a connecting thread between people and places. In Fallen Angels saturated neon lights up the eternal night, subway stations and led lights blinding. It’s no wonder the scenes in which Partner is the focus follow the same trend, and may directly reflect the character’s being. If we pick out the different color schemes in scenes where Partner stars, two main ones are constantly recurring - green and red.
It feels as though they are tailored for every specific event. The two colors intertwine constantly. When she’s cleaning the apartment the green from the outside mix with the refrigerators warmer hue, the masturbation scene’s where her red purse contrasts the neon green clock in the background, bumping into ”Blondie” in a subway station which has red walls and green led lights. There are also scenes in which one color is entirely dominant - red and yellow as Partner rubs up against the jukebox, green in the final scene in the restaurant.
One somber moment in black-and-white as the song ”Wang ji ta” (”Forget him”) plays in the background. Corrigan and White write that color is one of the most important things in the image’s composition, and they go on to declare that ”for example, when used effectively, metallic blues, soft greens, and deep reds can elicit very different emotions from viewers”. What they don’t do is explain exactly what emotions they bring out in us. Jon Fusco, however, does.
In an article written on the web page ”No Film School”, he writes about the psychology of color in film. According to him, every color used in film can have both negative and positive connotations and they hone the emotions of the scene. Red symbolizes - among other things - passion, rage, desire, danger, and love. Green symbolizes - among other things - perseverance, renewal, fertility, and envy. In the introduction of this essay I made the claim that Partner seems to be an archetype of lust, ”a very powerful feeling of wanting something”, and these two colors along with all that they represent are an extension of the definition.
In the last two scenes of Fallen Angels the scenes are more than influenced by color as the entire screen is cool green (see first picture), and here we may focus more on the ”renewal” and ”perseverance” of green’s psychology - through diegetic narration Partner describes her new life, how she works with different people now and doesn’t clean rooms any more. ”I firmly believe… one mustn’t get emotionally involved with with one’s partner.”Bathed in green light, she’s persevered through hardship and been renewed. Until He Zhiwu props up behind her with a face stained with red and she lets her bangs down.
